Tuesday, April 10, 2012

Hey hey, what have you lot been up to? I'm sure you'll be relieved to hear that I have *not* been watching lots of Jersey Shore and The Inbetweeners and Buffy the Vampire Slayer and being idle. Um. Yeah.

So. Some things.

1. There's a new blog in town and it's a good 'un. The awesome Keris Stainton, Susie Day and Keren David (the Charlie's Angels of the UK YA scene) have only gone and set up a whole blog dedicated to UK YA. It celebrates all that is great about British YA literature, so go check it out if you're at all interested in British books (and if you're not interested, then what the hell are you doing here? Just kidding... sort of). My favourite section is Britishisms, where you can go to translate our crazy lingo and realize it's not all rhyming slang and cor blimey, guvnor.

2. Here's a song for your ears. This track got me through the last couple of months of first draftage of book three. It's the acoustic version of You Make Me Wanna Die by The Pretty Reckless and it is made entirely of awesome.

3. I read and loved this book:

From Amazon: When Cameron Post’s parents die suddenly in a car crash, her shocking first thought is relief. Relief they’ll never know that, hours earlier, she had been kissing a girl.

But that relief doesn’t last, and Cam is soon forced to move in with her conservative aunt Ruth and her well-intentioned but hopelessly old-fashioned grandmother. She knows that from this point on, her life will forever be different. Survival in Miles City, Montana, means blending in and leaving well enough alone (as her grandmother might say), and Cam becomes an expert at both.

Then Coley Taylor moves to town. Beautiful, pickup-driving Coley is a perfect cowgirl with the perfect boyfriend to match. She and Cam forge an unexpected and intense friendship—one that seems to leave room for something more to emerge. But just as that starts to seem like a real possibility, ultrareligious Aunt Ruth takes drastic action to “fix” her niece, bringing Cam face-to-face with the cost of denying her true self—even if she’s not exactly sure who that is.

The Miseducation of Cameron Post is a stunning and unforgettable literary debut about discovering who you are and finding the courage to live life according to your own rules.

4. I should probably tell you about that crazy time last weekend when ENTANGLED was number two in the UK Kindle chart for ALL THE BOOKS, snuggling up next to THE HUNGER GAMES... but it all seems like a bit of a dream now. I have been assured by a number of people that it did in fact happen though, and all I can say to that is BAHAHAHAHAHA.

5. I've run out of Things. Here's a Griffpup pic instead of an Actual Thing.

Right, that's your lot for now. I must away for there is book planning to be done. I've got my Sharpies, a big sheet of paper and a head full of ideas. Laterz.

Tuesday, April 3, 2012

Forgive me, readers, for I have sinned. It's been bloody ages since my last confession blog post. No excuses this time. Let's just pretend this little blip never happened and have a quick round-up of what I've been up to, eh?

1. Finishing the first draft of book three. It was arduous. Like pulling teeth (but without the help of suitable tooth-pulling tools). There's still a lot of work to be done to make the story, y'know, make sense, but I'm taking a few days off to deal with all the other work I've been putting off since December. *cries*

2. Signing a contract to write a book for the wonderful Barrington Stoke. I'm crazy excited about this project. Here's what I know so far: it'll be published next year; the setting for the story is a house party; I'm stealing one of the characters from my crazy NaNoWriMo novel because I hearted her so much and decided she deserves to see the light of day instead of being banished to the shadowy depths of my hard drive until the end of time.

3. Going on tour! I visited a number of schools in and around London in February. It was awesome and exhausting.

4. Going to New York! I visited a number of shops and restaurants and spent a ridiculous amount of money I don't have. I bought these boots:

5. Seeing The Hunger Games. I may have been a little over-excited about this (to the extent that I said 'OMG' out loud while sitting at a restaurant table all by myself). I saw it on an IMAX screen, so even tiny Peeta looked huge. I liked the film a lot, but loved the book MOAR. My thoughts: Jennifer Lawrence is spectacularly good; Lenny Kravitz is nothing like the Cinna in my head; Rue may well be the cutest person I have ever seen with my eyes; I wish the film was at least fifteen minutes longer; Stanley Tucci makes everything approximately 57% better.

I think that just about brings us up to date. I trust you are all well? If there's anyone out there still interested in what I have to say, that is...